COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 | Page 5

laws, are subject to the most marked modifications of form in the lapse of short periods of time, both p 12 by the improvement in the instruments used, and by the consequent expansion of the field of view opened to rational observation, and that those scientific works which have, to use a common expression, become 'antiquated' by the acquisition of new funds of knowledge, are thus continually being consigned to oblivion as unreadable. However discouraging such a prospect must be, no one who is animated by a genuine love of nature, and by a sense of the dignity attached to its study, can view with regret any thing which promises future additions and a greater degree of perfection to general knowledge. Many important branches of knowledge have been based upon a solid foundation which will not easily be shaken, both as regards the phenomena in the regions of space and on the earth; while there are other portions of science in which general views will undoubtedly take the place of merely special; where new forces will be discovered and new substances will be made known, and where those which are now considered as simple will be decomposed. I would, therefore, venture to hope that an attempt to delineate nature in all its vivid animation and exalted grandeur, and to trace the 'stable' amid the vacillating, ever-recurring alternation of physical metamorphoses, will not be wholly disregarded even at a future age. 'Potsdam, Nov.', 1844.
This material taken from pages 13-22 NB - The page numbers will be properly aligned in Courier 12 font.
COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 by Alexander von Humboldt
Translated by E C Otte
from the 1858 Harper & Brothers edition of Cosmos, volume 1 --------------------------------------------------
p 13
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. ----------------------
Page The Translator's Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 The Author's Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
INTRODUCTION. The Results of the Study of Physical Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . 23 The different Epochs of the Contemplation of the external World . .24 The different Degrees of Enjoyment presented by the Contemplation of Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Instances of this Species of Enjoyment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Means by which it is induced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The Elevations and climatic Relations of many of the most celebrated Mountains in the World, considered with Reference to the Effect produced on the Mind of the Observer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27-33 The Impressions awakened by the Aspect of tropical Regions . . . . 34 The more accurate Knowledge of the Physical Forces of the Universe, acquired by the Inhabitants of a small Section of the temperate Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 The earliest Dawn of the Science of the Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . 36 The Difficulties that opposed the Progress of Inquiry . . . . . . . 37 Consideration of the Effect produced on the Mind by the Observation of Nature, and the Fear entertained by some of its injurious Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Illustrations of the Manner in which many recent Discoveries have tended to Remove the groundless Fears entertained regarding the Agency of certain Natural Phenomena . . . . . . 43 The Amount of Scientific Knowledge required to enter on the Consideration of Physical Phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 The Object held in View by the present Work . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 The Nature of the Study of the Cosmos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 The special Requirements of the present Age . .